Anchorage Daily News #3 - Reality T.V.

It's really fun, and kind of crazy, to see all of the reality television shows taking place in Alaska at the moment.  I have yet to SEE any of them as I am cheap and only have basic cable at home...but there are so many...Sarah Palin's Alaska, Gold Rush Alaska, Deadliest Catch, Flying Wild Alaska, are some of the ones I'm familiar with, and now, you will soon be able to add TWO more shows to the list...

As per The Anchorage Daily News, the new shows will be "Mountain Men of Alaska" and "Mounted in Alaska".  Just from the title alone, I think I need to watch the first one...just kidding (sort of).  :)   It's said to be about The Kilcher family, led by patriarch Atz Kilcher (singer Jewel's father).   They've lived on their homestead near Homer for three generations. They live off the land, spending their summers gardening, hunting and fishing for food to get them through the harsh Alaskan winters. Most of them live completely off the grid, with no running water and no electricity - and they are proud of it. The series also features homesteaders who live near the Kilchers, including "Brother Roadkill" who is not above eating animals lying dead on the side of the road (mmm...yummy...).

"Mounted in Alaska"...can you guess what this one is about?  Hmmm...keep it clean... :)   It's actually going to be about a taxidermy shop in Anchorage, "Knights Taxidermy, Inc.".  If ever there is a place where taxidermy is popular, I'm guessing it is Alaska.  I actually had dinner in an Alaskan home when I last visited and there were all kinds of stuffed critters, big and small...including an upright grizzly bear (much like you see on the Knights Taxidermy website) primed for an attack...

Photo Credit

Maybe next season, there will be a reality show about a naive Colorado girl who decided to move up to Alaska with her two dogs and see if she could survive...not living off the land or anything...but learning how to use a snowblower...learning how to maneuver on majorly snow-packed, icy roads...learning to carefully wrap up her garbage so bears and moose don't surprise her in her garage etc...what do you think...would YOU watch it?? :)

Anchorage Daily News #2

YIKES!!  This is not a headline I want to be seeing...

"Alaska's gas prices 3rd highest;

Hawaii first at $4 per gallon"

Hawaii on Monday reached the dubious milestone of being the first state in recent years to reach the $4 average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. According to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report, the Aloha State's $4 a gallon is the highest in the nation and a few cents higher than California's average of $3.959. Alaska was third at $3.902.

Some cities have already hit the $4 mark, including San Francisco, but Hawaii is the first state to reach the mark since 2008.

The national average is $3.558 a gallon, up a nickel from a week ago and 43 cents higher than a month ago.

Wyoming had the cheapest gas in the nation at $3.268.

And I have a feeling it's only going to go up...and up...and up...

Anchorage Daily News...Watch Out for Kicking Moose

Once I knew I was moving to Alaska, I thought it would be a good idea to start familiarizing myself with what's happening in my soon-to-be new world. I bookmarked the Anchorage Daily News so I could start reading up on what's going on in my new city.

Let me just say...the news in Anchorage is quite different from the news in Denver...for example:

"MOOSE KICKS WOMAN IN TOWN SQUARE PARK"
by Elizabeth Bluemink

A moose kicked a woman in Town Square Park Monday afternoon after she got too close to the animal and reportedly tried to pet it, according to Anchorage police.

The moose kicked the unidentified woman several times -- including in the chest and shoulder -- but she was not injured badly enough to go to the hospital, according to police spokeswoman Anita Shell.

Police were called to Town Square at about 4:40 p.m. and medics checked the woman and determined she was OK, Shell said.

Witnesses told police that the moose kicked the woman, in her 20s, after she tried to pet it as it walked by, Shell said.

The moose was spotted in Town Square throughout the day on Monday, feeding on trees. The moose was still hanging around at the downtown park after police arrived and the woman left at around 5 p.m.

"At this time, we are telling people not to agitate the moose ... to give it space," Shell said.

Anchorage police said they did not request that state biologists deal with the moose because the animal wasn't going after anyone unprovoked.

"It was just doing what moose do," Shell said.

I know I've got some learnin' to do in terms of life in Alaska, but even I know better than to try to pet a moose... :)